During Robertson's time at Queen's College it broke away from the University of St Andrews to become the University of Dundee, of which Robertson was one of the first graduates (MA, 1968).[2] During his time at University he played a full part in student life. Notably he wrote a column for the student newspaper Annasach, launched in 1967, and took an active role in student protests.[2][3][4] Robertson used his newspaper column to back the new University and encouraged his fellow students to take a University of Dundee degree (students who had started before 1967 could opt to take a degree from either the University of Dundee or the University of St Andrews).[4] In 1968 Robertson was one of a number of Dundee students to invade the pitch during a rugby match at St. Andrews involving a team from the Orange Free State to protest against apartheid.[5] The same year he organised a 24-hour work-in by students in the university library in opposition to proposed cuts by the government in student grants.[5]

Lord Robertson married Sandra Wallace on 1 June 1970. They are the parents of three children: Malcolm, Martin and Rachael.

Robertson survived a serious crash in January 1977 of his car with a Navy Land Rover, which was carrying 100 lb of gelignite and a box of detonators, and hit his car head-on in the Drumochter Pass, leaving him with two wrecked knees and a broken jaw. Robertson was wearing a seat belt at the time and attributes his survival to this factor.[citation needed]

Dunblane libel action

Robertson's three children are former pupils of the school in Dunblane where gunman Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 children and their teacher in 1996. After the massacre, Robertson, a long-time resident of the town, acted as a spokesman for the victims' families. He was also a key figure in the subsequent campaign that led to the ban on handguns in Great Britain.[14]

In 2003, the Sunday Herald newspaper ran an article entitled "Should the Dunblane dossier be kept secret?", a reference to documents relating to the Cullen Inquiry into the massacre which are to remain classified for 100 years. In a discussion board on the newspaper's website, anonymous contributors claimed that Robertson had signed a recommendation for a gun licence for Thomas Hamilton in his capacity as Hamilton's MP. In fact, Robertson had never been the gunman's MP, and the claims were totally unfounded. Robertson sued the Sunday Herald and the paper settled by paying him a five-figure sum plus costs. A subsequent action by Robertson, related to the terms of the newspaper's apology, was unsuccessful. The first case became an important test case as to whether publishers can be held responsible for comments posted on their websites.[15][16]

Independence referendum interventions

In an article in The Washington Post, he wrote: "The residual United Kingdom would still be a major player in the world, but upon losing a third of its land mass, 5 million of its population and a huge amount of credibility, its global standing would inevitably diminish."[17]

In a speech to the Brookings Institution on 8 April 2014 he said: "The loudest cheers for the break-up of Britain would be from our adversaries and from our enemies. For the second military power in the west to shatter this year would be cataclysmic in geo-political terms."[18] Baron Robertson of Port Ellen also likened the efforts of Unionists to keep Scotland tied to the UK with those of Abraham Lincoln's fight against slavery when he stated, "they might look more relevantly at the Civil War where hundreds of thousands of Americans perished in a war to keep the new Union together. To Lincoln and his compatriots the Union was so precious, so important, and its integrity so valuable that rivers of blood would be spilt to keep it together." [19]

After NATO

Robertson has received numerous honours (including a total of 12 Honorary doctorates from various universities). Currently he holds directorships of several notable companies in the UK, including the Weir Group,[20] and Cable and Wireless.

In addition, Lord Robertson is a Senior Counsellor at The Cohen Group, a consulting firm in Washington D.C. that provides advice and assistance in marketing and regulatory affairs.

↑"Q&A: Scottish independence referendum". BBC News. BBC. 29 May 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011. The 2011 result has blown out of the water the claim once made by Labour veteran Lord Robertson that devolution would "kill nationalism stone dead" - ironically, Labour, the party which set up devolution - has never managed to gain the overall majority achieved by the SNP.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>